There are a large variety of coin dispensing devices on the market today and they differ widely in coin-handling methods and capacity.
Prior art patents disclosing devices of the type referred to are U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,279 in which the rotating mechanism is repeatedly de-energized, reversed in direction for a short time interval, then immediately rotated in the original direction to clear jams in the mechanism. U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,950 also discloses an anti-jamming mechanism which is temporarily reversed and then returned to its original direction of rotation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,852,106; 2,587,809; 2,653,850; 2,691,379; 3,163,169; 3,612,073; 4,036,242; 4,098,280 and 4,123,892 also disclose prior art coin handling apparatus.
Deficiencies in prior art devices include high complexity, noisy operation, difficulty in manual coin removal, awkward external shape, difficulty in clearing jams, heavy construction, slow dispensing rate and limited multiple coin dispense flexibility. The apparatus embodying the concept of the present invention overcomes the prior art deficiencies primarily by utilizing a design in which the overlapping coin transporting plates or discs are rotated in opposite angular direction so that, inherently, as the apertures in the plates approach and depart from momentary registration, the aperatures are moving in the same general linear direction. Because of this the "dwell" or time interval of at least partial registration of the disc apertures is increased, improving substantially the coin feed from the bulk hopper in which the coins are randomly positioned. The coin dispense rate and regularity of the coin dispenser can be further improved by thickening the uppermost of the overlapping discs to a whole integer multiple of the thickness of the coins being dispensed, thereby, in effect, permitting preloading the disc initially receiving the coins and making it unnecessary that a coin be picked up with each revolution of this disc.
The second primary design feature of the present invention is the action upon occurence of a coin jam. The rotating parts of the apparatus are symmetrical so that it will dispense coins equally well with the plates or discs rotating in either direction as long as they are rotating in opposite angular direction that is, counter rotating. Thus when a jam occurs, the power means receives a signal causing it to reverse the direction of rotation of both discs (they thus continue to rotate in opposite angular direction), which clears the jam. The power means then continues to rotate the discs in the new direction, continuing the transport of coins from the bulk hopper, until the next jam occurs whereupon the direction of rotation of both discs is again reversed to clear the jam. The mechanism simply continues in a given direction until the next reversal is necessary. This is in contrast to prior art devices such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,948,279 and 3,943,950 wherein upon occurence of a jam, rotation is momentarily reversed but then immediately returned to the original direction and this hammering action is repeated until the jam is cleared. The jam-clearing characteristic of the "either direction" operation of the present invention is much improved over the prior art and a quieter, more reliable and more power-economical unloading mechanism results.